Maggie Vincent – Interaction’s GM Operations, along with her husband Jamie, (Apex Australia Board Advisor and Apex Australia Foundation Board Member) have spent a number of years assisting and supporting the Klang Special School in Malaysia (a school which was built by Apex Australia).

Back in 2011 Apex Blacktown – in conjunction with Interaction – sponsored 2 young teachers from the School (Assweenaa and Malinni) to travel to Australia, where they spent 4 weeks visiting a number of organisations, including special schools, and participating in day programs as well as learning about the services that Interaction provides. The 4 weeks concluded with attendance at the Asia Pacific Autism Conference in Perth, with Interaction’s Maria Fernandez and Maggie Vincent.  The school itself in Klang Malaysia was built by Apex Australia, and is supported on an ongoing basis by the Apex Club of Klang.

Maggie and Jamie vistited the school again in August 2016, taking with them over $3,000.00 of educational and sensory equipment. $500.00 towards the equipment was donated by Interaction.

During this visit Maggie and Jamie were able to see what had been implemented by the teachers since their visit, and after discussions with the school Principal and school Board, it was agreed that Apex Blacktown would return in August 2017 to run a week of intensive training for both the Klang School, along with the Kuala Lumpar Special School.  Apex Blacktown fundraised to pay for all airfares and accommodation and daily expenses for the three volunteers that accompanied Maggie and Jamie for the training.

Two sessions were run each day with the KL teachers in the morning and Klang teachers in the afternoon. Training topics included:

– Essential elements of active support;
– Teaching strategies including classroom organisation and communication;
– Use of the internet to assist with learning;
– iPads in the classroom; and
– Sensory toolkits and behaviour management

Additional to the training were sessions with the school physiotherapist in classrooms, along with therapy and hydrotherapy sessions.  The week of training was a great success, Klang Special School has expressed their interest in having representatives return in 2018 to provide further training.

On Saturday 7th October Apex Blacktown was awarded the International Relations Award at the Apex Australia National Convention for their work with the Klang School.

Interaction is proud to offer its support to the Apex Foundation (including Apex Australia and Apex Blacktown) in continuing its great work, resulting in increased level of knowledge and skillset for teachers at both the Klang and KL special Schools, and we look forward to keeping you up to date with progress subsequent to the next visit.

Apex Australia is a vibrant and energetic volunteer service organisation, focused on harnessing the ideas, ideals and intelligence of young people. Established in 1931 and going strong, Apex Australia has helped more than 200,000 younger Australians make a difference to their community, learn valued skills and make great friends. The Apex story is one of fun, fellowship and friendship. To learn more about Apex Australia go to www.apex.org.au